Before we start, let's squash the claim that the Jaredite story was a myth in an otherwise historical Book of Mormon. According to LDS.org, Coriantumr was one of the only two surviving Jaredites (Ether 15:15–32) who was discovered by and lived with the people of Zarahemla (Omni 1:21). For the Jaredites to be fiction or myth, you must also accept that Zarahemla was fiction and myth. This means their tablets were fiction and myth, which Mosiah claimed to have physically read. This means king Mosiah was fiction and myth which is central to the Book of Mormon timeline. Thus to discount the Jaredites as fiction means you discount the entire Book of Mormon as fiction.
The second point I want to mention is that, yes, I've written about this before, but that was more to do with the problems in the overall Jaredite story. I wanted this to be a deeper dive into the problem with the barges specifically.
Now that that's settled, let's look at the text to see the descriptions of the Jaredite barges. All chapter and verses are references to Ether.
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8 barges (3:1), built by hand (2:6), in about 2200 BC (LDS.org timeline).
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The barges float like "a fowl upon the water" (2:16).
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Water tight construction (2:17) with a door, that is open-able and water tight when shut (2:17). It also has two water-tight (2:20) holes in the top and bottom respectively that can be open and closed mid travel (2:20). These holes are the source of ventilation (2:20), able to withstand flooding (2:20) which will come (2:25), and sturdy enough to survive the crashing of "mountain waves" (2:24) and being "tossed upon the sea" by a "furious wind" (6:6). It's tight enough to survive full submersion (6:7) and capsizing.
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The barges have peaked ends (2:17) and are the length of a tree (2:17).
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The barges are pushed by the wind (2:24) that constantly blew eastward without stopping (6:8).
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Two stone stones each barge, which create light because they were touched by Christ's finger (6:2).
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Barges contain enough preserved food for the humans and the domesticated flocks and flocks herds (6:4), and fresh water supplies to sustain the travelers for 344 days on the water (6:11).
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Barges are able to withstand animal impacts, such as the referenced "whale" whether above or below the water (6:8).
Note that while it is likely the story intended the bee hives (2:3) and varying seeds (2:3) and aquariums (2:2) to be in the barges; however, it doesn't explicitly say so. For that reason, I'm not touching on the problems that each of these would cause.
Alright. I'm sure you're rolling your eyes by now, but stick with me. Let's talk about the problems.
Let's first consider the obvious problem is the size of the barge. Let's say God planted some redwoods with some special miracle grow. You're looking at most 350 feet, or so. This corresponds with the largest vessels Joseph would have likely seen, so I have no problem with the suggestion that he imagined the Jaredites in big ships. The smaller flatboats of Joseph's day even match the description in the book if stacked on top of each other, so it's probable the design would hold out above calm waters.
That is until you start talking about how to go about building this. Then you have the bigger problem of berthing the vessels in a safe manner. Let's start with the weight.
Problem 1: Weights and Berthing
A single 80 foot hardwood tree can weigh upwards of 20 tons. Assuming you're able to cut precise lumber, you're still looking at 5-10 trees to build a barge the length of this tree. That's closer to the 100-200 tons for the ship itself, and that's just an empty shell.
You need about 4 pounds of food per person per day, so a family of five for 344 days will literally need close to a ton of food. You'd also need about 1-5 pounds of food per animal in your herd (cattle being the upper range). That's going to be close to another 1-5 tons of animal grain (which is a space and combustion or mold hazard). Now a add the fresh water You need a minimum of 2 quarts of water per person per day which comes out to a pound of water per person per day, and animals need 1-15 gallons per day. A small herd of 6 would need 1-30 tons of water. That's not counting the fowls, containers, or non-survival use. So we're at 3-40 tons of food and water for a very conservative and calm group.
All together, we're around 105 - 230 tons of goods and materials per barge. A few families and their friends are not going to be able to build and drag those into the ocean without a dry dock or tidal dock. These docks aren't unheard of around this time period, but to build and maintain a dry dock requires a local community; however, that isn't possible since they can't speak to anyone outside of their group. Then you have the problem of ship building and the support structure required to make that happen. Ore and blacksmiths for tools. Wood for lumber. Manual work force. You're looking at years and years of setup and production. You can argue for that, but it only means you'll need larger barges, more flocks, more herds, and more foodstuff, and more water. It's a spiraling problem.
Note that while we don't know the exact number of people in the story, we do have a list of Jared, his family. His brother, his family, and their friends, and their families. Let's assume everything is split evenly. One flock, one herd, and one family of.. Oh, I don't know. Let's be generous to the apologists and say 5 people per barge by time they started the voyage with a small herd of 6 animals on each barge.
Problem 2: The barges wouldn't survive
For sake of argument, let's say that 70-300 foot barge actually existed and was pushed off into the ocean. Now what? Now they're trying to convince you that a whale could not damage this handmade boat. This is what it looks like for a small 40 ton whale to attack a modernly constructed boat. Now imagine what a larger, 200 ton blue whale could do to a barge, especially one heavy laden with supplies and animals.
But wait, there's more. The story also wants you to believe that a long and wide barge, buoyant enough to gracefully float on the water like a bird, could survive ocean currents and waves the size of mountains which would submerge and capsize the ship. This is what it looks like to be hit by a medium wave. This is what a capsized ship does. The wooden vessel would be damaged if not torn in half. It would sink.
Problem 3: The people and animals wouldn't survive
Now apologists may argue that the ship was waterproofed and magically held together. They'll likely (and correctly) point out that it was designed to flip over (hence the cork in the bottom). Even if you accept all of the supposition out of hand, that doesn't address what happens to the people and animals inside. The barge has to be big enough to move on the ocean by the wind pushing it (not the sail - which isn't mentioned and would be another problem). It has to be at least several feet high to remain graceful and catch that wind. If it topples over, everything and everyone goes with it. (graphic warning)This is what happens when animals topple over in a trailer in a moderately confined space. They die. They crush, they kick, they damage their container. Now imagine more animals in a larger space falling for longer in a weaker container. The container wouldn't survive. They wouldn't survive. The humans wouldn't survive.
Then you have other concerns. Panic. Keeping animals in a small surface for several days. Diseases that will come as a result. Lack of fresh air. Prolonged malnutrition. Births, deaths. It's a mess, but we'll get to that lower on the list.
Problem 4: Air, watertight construction, and movable parts
I want to highlight the claim that this barge was water-tight. hand-made in 2200 BC. With a door and corks in the top and bottom. That open, close, and remain water tight. Yeah...
Let's investigate. You have to have a sealant in order to make wood water-tight. A sealant works because it creates a seal between the gaps in the wood. The seal is broken when you break the seal, such as by opening the door that was sealed. You would then have to re-seal that break if you wanted your water tight container. During that time they used caulking, which was to drive reeds, papyrus, and other material into the gap between wood. They would then seal it by using hot pitch. You can't do that at sea in a wooden boat, especially one you're not allowed to have fire on, each time you need to open it for air and close it in advance of rain (the sealant needs time to dry).
Let's assume that you had magic, quick drying sealing that you didn't need to heat. You now have the problem of air. A human uses ~8 cubic feet of air per hour (counting recycling, not counting frightened or erratic states). For simple math, let's say the animals will use the same. That comes to about 80 cubic feet for the people alone. Now add fear to all the animals and humans, you're tossing around in a storm with only two rocks for light, or even just exercise. That would increase the need by a factor of 8. So we're up to 80-640 cubic feet of air per hour, before you factor in livestock and displaced air from supplies and body mass. That's a problem. You will either sink from having the cork open or suffocate from having it closed.
Problem 5: Food preservation, malnutrition, and fresh water
While we're at it, food goes stale when exposed to air. Uncured meats will go bad within the first week of the voyage. The vegetables will follow within the first few weeks, and the last of the fruit will go within the next week or two. Your cooked bread products will last longer, but even they will go bad within the first 6 months. These time lines are going to be exaggerated within the humid environment of a sealed wooden ship in 2200 BC.
Cured meats and honey would be fine, but the former increases the need for water. This further exaggerates the weight problem mentioned in #1. This leaves you with the animals you can't cook (fire and ships), the need for too much fresh water, and a major malnutrition problem from the excess use of honey. People will die.
The other half of this problem is fresh water. Specifically, keeping it fresh. You have a mix of salt water and the lack of good, airtight containers. Pottery will break and skins will rot. Even if you assumed some sort of fruit shell (like a sealed coconut), you now have hard projectiles in your ship when the storm starts and these still aren't air tight or weightless. The only alternative is the water quickly going stale. This leaves you with rain water (problematic due to the cork, inconsistency, or water collection on top of the barge) or salt water (death).
Now, I've had apologists argue that they stopped for supplies along the way (I hope you're reading this, by the way. I look forward to the response). That argument doesn't work because it violates Ether 6:11 which says, "And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water." The apologist will likely argue that they must have stopped for supplies because they couldn't have subsisted on the water with no refrigeration or preservation technologies. Yes. That's the point. The claim as it appears in the sacred canon cannot be true based on everything we know about the time and natural process of organic materials.
Problem 6: Sanitation
Now, let's talk about the problem of keeping your food and water separate from your waste. You have animals who don't understand the concept of hygene. You have humans who either can't see or are in an open environment. You environmental conditions you can't control. You don't have appropriate sanitation for yourself. The results are going to be molding and rotting food sources, diseased water, diseased animals, and diseased humans. This is compounded by the earlier problems of malnutrition, poor air supply, and limited exercise.
Submitted June 06, 2015 at 11:43PM by curious_mormon http://ift.tt/1dUudMA exmormon
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